Our Little Secret
by Kazine
Summary: When Hermione finds Ron kissing Lavender after the Quidditch match, she runs far away, and manages to find comfort in the most unexpected place.
1. Chapter 1

The crowd around Hermione erupted into cheers and the whistle blew to signal the end of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Harry had caught the snitch right from under Harper's nose, winning the game for her house. But Hermione was not in the mood for celebrating.

The team disappeared into the changing rooms, cheering and almost dancing from their triumph. Unable to hold in her anger any longer, Hermione got up from her seat and stormed down to the changing rooms, ready to give her two best friends a piece of her mind.

Ron and Harry were the only two left in the changing room by the time she arrived. They seemed as though they were just about to leave when she entered. She twisted her Gryffindor scarf in her fingers, trying to summon the courage to say what had been bothering her since breakfast.

"I want a word with you, Harry." She took a deep breath. "You shouldn't have done it. You heard Slughorn, it's illegal."

"What are you going to do, turn us in?" demanded Ron.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Harry, turning away to hang up his robes.

"You know perfectly well what we're talking about!" Hermione snapped, furious that he would even deny what she had seen him do with her own two eyes. "You spiked Ron's juice with lucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!"

"No, I didn't," Harry protested, turning back to face them both.

"Yes you did, Harry, and that's why everything went right, there were Slytherin players missing and Ron saved everything!"

"I didn't put it in!" said Harry, grinning at her. He slipped his hand inside his jacket pocket and drew out the tiny bottle that Hermione had seen in his hand that morning. It was full of golden potion and the cork was still tightly sealed with wax. "I wanted Ron to think I'd done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking." He looked at Ron. "You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all yourself." He pocketed the potion again. Hermione felt her heart sink as she realised what she had done. She had accused Harry of breaking the law, and also insinuated that Ron was completely useless at Quidditch. In her defense, he usually was, but that didn't make her feel any less horrible for basically saying it to his face.

"There really wasn't anything in my pumpkin juice?" Ron said, astounded. "But the weather's good... and Vaisey couldn't play... I honestly haven't been given lucky potion?" Harry shook his head. Ron gaped at him for a moment, then rounded on Hermione, imitating her voice. "You added Felix Felicis to Ron's juice this morning, that's why he saved everything! See! I can save goals without help, Hermione!" Ron mocking her was like a stab to the gut.

"I never said you couldn't - Ron, you thought you'd been given it too!" She tried to justify her words, but she knew that she has crossed a line. Her heart hammered in her chest and tears stung her eyes.

But Ron had already strode past her out of the door with his broomstick over his shoulder.

"Er," said Harry into the sudden silence. Perhaps he was regretting pulling this little stunt now that it had backfired so horribly. "Shall... shall we go up to the party, then?"

"You go!" she almost shouted, turning her back on Harry so that he wouldn't see the tears starting to fall down her cheeks. "I'm sick of Ron at the moment, I don't know what I'm supposed to have done…" She stormed out of the changing room, not looking back.

Hermione ripped her scarf from around her neck as she walked quickly up to the castle, tears falling freely now. She wanted to get as far away from Harry as possible so that he wouldn't see how upset she was. When she thought about it, she had to admit that he really hadn't done anything wrong. He had only wanted to help Ron's confidence - and it had worked, too. But then she had had to go and ruin everything, showing both of her friends that she didn't have faith in either of them.

She decided to take a longer route back to the common room, hoping to avoid anyone from her house and to give herself a chance to calm down. She stopped off in a bathroom to splash some water on her face to try to calm the pink blotches that had appeared. It worked a little bit. Truthfully she hoped that she could just slip into her dormitory and avoid being seen by anyone - the party was likely to be hectic so it wasn't to unrealistic to hope that no one would notice her sneaking through. She had no interest in celebrating now, even if the match _had_ been won legitimately.

She climbed through the portrait hole and was instantly hit by a wave of noise - cheering, singing and general rowdiness. Hermione wanted nothing more than to climb into bed, take a potion for her sudden throbbing headache, and pretend like this whole day just hadn't happened.

But as she tried to worm her way through the celebrations, her eye caught the one person she wanted to see least, doing the thing that she least wanted to see. Ron Weasley was snogging Lavender Brown. Hermione felt like she had been punched in the gut. For a few seconds she could do nothing but stand and stare at them, overcome with shock, before picking her jaw up off the floor and succumbing to the urge to run straight back out of the common room. She darted back towards the portrait hole, no longer caring who saw her anymore, only desperately trying to hold in the next round of tears until she was safely back into the corridor and out of sight.

"F-u-u-uck," she gasped aloud as soon as the portrait closed behind her. Then, she started to run - where she was going, she didn't know, she could barely see for the tears. She knew that Harry might try to follow her, so she ran and ran until she was out of breath, barely able to see where she was for the tears still flooding her eyes. Harry couldn't see her like this.

Eventually she collapsed into a small corridor. She didn't recognise it, so she hoped that meant it was unused and that she wouldn't be disturbed. She slid down the wall next to a suit of armor, burying her face into her knees and sobbing.

Was this all her fault? Had she driven Ron away with her constant nagging and general inability to break the rules? Had she just pissed him off one too many times, to the point of no return?

She loved Ron - well, she thought she did, but she had never been in love before to know for sure. She also thought that he had loved her back. But perhaps she had just been a stupid, delusional teenage girl. Ron didn't love her - this wasn't how you treated someone that you loved, shouting at them and then sucking the face off the first girl who looked at you! No, now she was sure that Ron didn't love her, and the realisation was like someone had just cast a 'bombarda' on her heart.

"What are _you_ doing up here, Granger?" came a sneering, familiar voice, "Did they finally get sick of your mudblood stench and kick you out of the common room? I have to say I wouldn't be surprised, I don't think I'd have lasted a week."

She didn't even need to look up to know who it was. _Malfoy_. Why? Why him? What else did the universe care to throw at her today? Talk about kicking her whilst she was down!

"Go away!" she demanded, not even bothering to lift her head, which was still buried in her arms. It was bad enough that he knew she was crying, nevermind him seeing her red, tear-streaked face.

"I'm afraid I don't take orders from mudbloods," he said smugly, "In fact, now that the Dark Lord is back, you might be taking orders from me, soon. He's going to put your lot back in their place, and that place is certainly not here, dirtying the Hogwarts corridors with your muddy tears."

Hermione didn't respond, she just sobbed quietly. She didn't really care about his insults, she had heard it all before. The little ferret wasn't nearly important enough to make her feel any worse than she already did.

"Don't ignore me, Granger!" he demanded. He was closer now, she could sense him standing directly over her, but she still didn't look up. "What's wrong? Did Weaselbee dump you? I know he's a filthy blood traitor, but even _he_ could do better than a sub-human piece of filth like you."

Hermione finally felt something inside of her snap. She jumped up onto her feet and he leapt backwards in surprise.

"I said GO AWAY!" she screamed, her hand diving into pocket and retrieving her wand. She pointed it at Malfoy, yelling "Stupefy!"

If Malfoy's wand hadn't already been in his hand, he wouldn't have had the chance to throw up a 'protego' in time, blocking Hermione's spell. The sneer on his face disappeared instantly, and was replaced with rage. He didn't have a witty comeback to that - he pointed his wand back at her.

"Petrificus totalis!" he snarled, shooting the curse at her which she deflected instantly. She shot more curses at him and he retaliated, but they seemed fairly evenly matched, and as they duelled, not a single curse hit its target. She knew he was holding back on her though - he definitely knew darker spells than the ones he was using. Hermione was just about to fire another curse at him when-

"Expelliarmus!" Draco commanded. Her wand flew out of her hand and he caught it with ease. She was shocked by the sudden loss of her wand, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. Not today. So she screamed, charging at him, tackling him to the floor. She straddled him, and started to hit him everywhere that she could, tears starting to fall again.

"I - WILL - NOT - LET - YOU - BULLY - ME - DRACO - MALFOY!" she yelled, laying a smack on him for every word that left her mouth. Draco didn't fight back, he just looked at her in shock, as if he couldn't have ever imagined that she actually had feelings.

And then, without any idea why she was doing it, she lost all composure entirely, collapsing onto him and weeping into his chest. She fully expected him to throw her off at any second, cursing her into oblivion for daring to dirty him with her mudblood tears, but he didn't even move. In fact, she barely felt him breathe.

And suddenly, not knowing what the hell had came over her, she kissed him. Just one quick kiss, lasting less than two seconds. She opened her eyes, to see his grey ones staring back at her - confused, concerned, all hate and anger gone.

"Granger-" he started.

"Don't," she gasped, kissing him again, "Don't say anything."

He didn't. She heard the sound of both wands dropping to the floor, and his hands found their way to the back of her head instead. He pulled her towards him, kissing her back for the first time. Her heart fluttered as she felt his tongue trace the gap between her lips. She _kissed_ Draco Malfoy! And he was kissing her back! And it was … _oh Godric!_

His lips were gentle but passionate, his tongue dancing on her lips as he gently grasped her hair with one hand. The other hand trailed down her back and rested on her hip, squeezing it lightly. His precise and experienced movements set her body on fire. She knew that, on his end, it was probably like snogging a wet fish, what with her tear-streaked face and total lack of experience, but she found that she didn't really care.

She felt her breathing start to quicken, her entire body burning and begging for more. She pulled away from the kiss, opening her eyes and looked deep into Draco's, and she knew that he was thinking the same thing.

"There's an empty classroom just over there if you want to-"

"Oh gods yes," she gasped, dragging him up off the floor. She barely stopped to think about what she was doing. She had never had sex before, but she was definitely just about to let Draco Malfoy, of all people, fuck her senseless in an empty classroom.

She pulled him by the hand towards the door, and as soon as they were inside, Draco cast some locking and silencing spells on the door. The second he was done, he threw the wands aside again, and roughly, desperately, grabbed Hermione, wrapping his arms around her and pushing her against the door.

His kisses travelled from her mouth down to her neck. He pulled off her Gryffindor scarf, opening more of her skin up to his tender kisses, and when he dared to nibble at her neck, it nearly pushed her over the edge.

"Oh gods Draco," she gasped, almost panting now, "I need more. Please."

He didn't dare to hesitate. Within seconds her robe was off, and he had pulled her top off over her head. His lips crashed against hers again as she hastily undid his tie, throwing it to the floor before starting on his shirt buttons.

He now had her bra off and discarded, his hands exploring her breasts with that exquisite level of gentle firmness that he seemed to have perfected. His mouth was on her neck again, sucking, kissing, lightly biting. She threw her head back and an involuntary moan escaped her lips. Every fibre of her body tingled with desperation - if she didn't know any better, she might have thought she'd been waiting her whole life just for this moment.

Hermione's hands travelled down Draco's creamy toned chest and pulled at his belt. Then she fumbled at the buttons on his trousers, clumsily pulling them down just enough to free his solid erection. She was shocked to see the physical proof that he wanted this just as much as she did - if that was even possible. Until now, he could have just been playing a cruel prank on her. But there was no doubting it - Draco Malfoy was desperate to fuck her, and she was damn well going to make his dream come true. He trailed kisses down from her neck to her breasts, kissing her nipples and teasing them with her tongue in that torturously perfect way.

"I can't wait a second longer," she groaned, her tone begging, "I need you to take me right now, Draco Malfoy!"

She heard a groan of pleasure escape his lips and she knew he didn't want to wait either. He hooked his arms under her legs, lifting her up and holding her against the door. She felt his cock pressing hard against the damp fabric of her underwear, desperate for access to her, so she reached down, pulling her knickers to one side, and Draco slowly buried his cock into her in one swift movement.

Hermione cried out with pain as he tore through her hymen. Draco's eyes widened with surprise - clearly he had not expected her to still be a virgin. He stopped for a moment, obviously not knowing whether he ought to continue, before she growled:

'If you even think about stopping I will hex you so hard you'll be in the hospital wing for a week".

Draco smirked, slowly starting to thrust into her. He buried his face in her neck, his breathing erratic.

"Oh fuck Hermione," he whispered, "You're so wet. You're so tight. You feel so good."

Hermione groaned at his silky voice in her ear. She felt like electricity was running through her body. Was that the first time he had ever said her first name? It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he never ever stopped fucking her exactly as he was. Her legs ached from being pushed backwards, and her back was sore from being pressed against the door, but Draco's lips on her neck, his cock sending wave after wave of pleasure through her body… It was unparalleled by anything she had ever experienced.

"Please don't stop," she begged.

"I don't plan to," he purred, picking up the pace.

"Oh shit. Oh fuck." Her moans grew louder until she cried out every time he thrust into her. _Thank Godric for silencing spells._

"I didn't realise you had such a foul mouth, Granger," he hissed in her ear, "Then again, I didn't know you were this dirty little minx either. If I had, I might have had my way with you a long time ago."

"Oh gods. Oh gods." She couldn't say anything else. She could barely think straight as she felt her orgasm building, her magic crackling around her and threatening to blow up the entire classroom if she didn't contain herself. "Just a little more. Pleaaaase!"

Draco complied, thrusting into her deeper and harder than before, and Hermione felt felt fireworks exploding inside of her as he pushed her over the edge. Her toes curled and she screamed.

"Draco! Oh gods Draco!"

Hermione's entire body tingled and she couldn't make enough sound to express the pleasure she felt. She knew that he was about to climax too - he buried his face in her neck, groaning and grunting until eventually he thrusted deep into her, filling her as he gasped with ecstasy. His legs went weak and buckled. They both slid down the door until they were a tangled, panting mess on the floor. Hermione closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing, wondering why orgasms she had given herself had never come close to what had just happened. Draco kissed her again, softly again now.

Slowly Hermione caught her breath and the afterglow faded. Finally the realisation of what has just happened dawned on her. Her eyes shot open.

"Oh Merlin, what have we done?" she gasped. She had just lost her virginity. In a classroom! To _Draco Malfoy_! He just smirked.

"In case you didn't notice, Granger, we just had sex. Very enjoyable sex, at that.'

She pulled away from him, scrambling to put her clothes back on.

"Y-yes, you're right, it was. Perhaps we could keep this as our little secret?" she asked timidly.

"Of course," he said, as if anything to the contrary was simply ridiculous, "I think I would be murdered on the spot if a certain dark wizard found out about this."

"Of course," she stammered. She pulled her robe back on and replaced her Gryffindor scarf. "Maybe, as soon as we leave this room, it's like none of this ever happened? You can go back to calling me a mudblood and I'll try not to jump on you next time?"

Draco barked out a laugh. "Sounds good to me."

"Okay, I'll leave first, you can follow. I guess I'll see you in Potions on Monday."

She picked up her wand and cancelled the charms on the door. She reached for the handle, but Draco stopped her from leaving by placing his hand on hers.

"Hermione." She looked up at him, her brown eyes locking into his grey. He leaned in and kissed her gently. When he finally pulled away, he smiled at her. "Our little secret."

Hermione blushed, smiled back, and turned the doorknob. She headed back into the corridor, leaving Draco Malfoy and their little secret behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: I'm very grateful for the lovely feedback I've had so far! I was considering just making this a one shot but ideas keep coming so I decided to just keep writing and see how it goes… If it's rubbish I'll just delete this and go back to a one shot haha.**

xxx

As soon as Hermione closed the door behind her, Draco locked it again. He turned around, leaning with his back against the door, and slowly slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. He held his wand tightly in his hands, trying to dull the fact that he had started to shake. He'd managed to put on an act until Granger had left, but now he was truly panicking.

How had that even happened? One minute she was trying to hex him, and the next she was on top of him - and he hadn't pushed her off and cursed her, like he _should_ have done. It was like someone else had taken over his body when the mudblood had kissed him. Someone who didn't hate muggleborns. Someone who didn't come from a family of blood purists. Someone who wasn't a fucking _Death Eater!_ What would his friends say if they knew what had just happened? He would be the laughing stock of Slytherin. Hell, they'd probably throw him out and force him into Hufflepuff! What would his father do if he found out? He would disown him for sure. He'd lose his home, his inheritance and his status. He might have been in Azkaban, but he was still head of the household. And the Dark Lord… If the Dark Lord even suspected that Draco had been fraternising with mudbloods, he would kill him on the spot. The Dark Lord - basically the most powerful legilimens ever.

"FUCK!" he screamed, picking up a nearby chair and hurling it across the room. He didn't know what he was going to do now. It was hard enough having the pressures of being a newly appointed Death Eater, being stuck with the task of killing Albus Dumbledore, trying to fix the vanishing cabinet, and now he had this to hide, too. His life becoming like an onion - layer after layer of lies.

He figured that this was the only explanation for what had just happened. The pressure building up on him had simply become too much, and he'd finally snapped, taking back control the only way he could - by sleeping with a mudblood. What a foolish decision that had been. He was surely going to pay dearly for his fifteen minutes of fun.

 _But it was fun…_

He shook his head, trying to forget what had just happened. Perhaps he could master memory charms and obliviate himself before the next Death Eater meeting. He half hoped that it'd go wrong and he could spend the rest of his life playing exploding snap with Professor Lockhart in St. Mungo's, completely oblivious to all of the shit that he'd been put through since the Dark Lord had returned.

He unlocked the door and left the classroom, praying that the mudblood was nowhere in sight.

xxx

Straight after closing the classroom door, Hermione took off in the opposite direction of the Slytherin common room, and hid herself around a corner so she could sit down and _think_.

What the _hell_ had she just done? She had thrown herself at someone, lost her virginity on a whim, and not to just anybody - to Draco Malfoy! Cruel, bullying, hateful, blood-purist, son-of-a-Death-Eater _Draco Malfoy_! What on Earth would Harry and Ron do if they found out?

 _Ron_.

Hermione let out an almost hysterical laugh as she realised that Malfoy had managed to distract her from Ron and how infuriated she was with him. She hadn't thought about him for even a second since she had pounced on Malfoy and demanded that he - what was the phrase? - 'take me right now, Draco Malfoy!'

"Oh fuck!" she groaned, heat creeping into her face. How could she expect to sit in the same classroom as him ever again after he had seen her completely and utterly lose her mind like that? She didn't know what had came over her - that wasn't the type of girl she was, she was a virgin for Merlin's sake. Past tense. _Was_ a virgin. The utter humiliation of having to face Draco Malfoy again after tonight was enough to make her want to run back to her dormitory, pack all her things, and get the Hogwarts Express straight back home and never return to the wizarding world again.

She made the decision to get up and head back to the common room, before she decided to simply hide around this corner for the rest of her life. She dragged herself up, noticing for the first time that she was sore. _Everywhere_.

 _Great_ , she thought. _A physical reminder is just what I need._

She headed back towards the common room, stopping only to peer into the reflective glass of a cabinet to make sure that she didn't look too dishevelled. _Perhaps I could take a leaf out of Parvati's book and start carrying a compact mirror_ , she thought to herself. _That is, if I plan on getting into the habit of having random sexual encounters in empty classrooms_. She laughed out loud at the very thought. Preposterous!

It was at that moment that Harry appeared.

"Hermione!" he sighed, looking visibly relieved, "I've been looking for you everywhere, you weren't even in the library. Are you okay?"

Hermione figured that her best bet was to pretend that Ron and Lavender getting together hadn't bothered her one bit.

"I'm fine, Harry," she reassured him, "I just needed a little time to calm down after our little disagreement in the changing rooms."

Harry looked visibly surprised by that, as if expecting her to break down on his shoulder about how her one true love was in the arms of another girl, but she hadn't even mentioned seeing Ron and Lavender.

"I'm sorry for doubting you, Harry," she told him earnestly, "I should have known that you wouldn't really cheat at Quidditch. You have way too much respect for the sport to do that. I was out of line, and I'm sorry."

"It's alright Hermione. It was my plan for you to think that so that Ron would believe I'd given him the potion and hopefully be a bit more confident. It backfired a bit though, huh?" he grinned, testing the waters with a joke. Hermione genuinely smiled back at him - the whole Felix Felicis situation seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago for Hermione, and in retrospect, it all seemed foolish and, quite frankly, juvenile.

"He seems happy anyway, it can't have gotten him down that much," she said, trying to sound genuinely pleased for Ron.

"So you're fine with it then?" Harry dared to ask, disbelief in his green eyes.

"Of course. It might make him more pleasant to be around, and stop him moping about quite so much. That's a win for everyone, don't you agree?"

Harry let out a genuine laugh, seeming to finally relax for the first time since he'd found her.

"Yes, I can definitely agree with that," he grinned.

They headed back to the common room together. Thankfully Ron and Lavender were nowhere in sight. Harry tried to get her to stay for the party but she made an excuse that she wanted to go up to her room and study. He tried to change her mind, but he didn't try very hard - he obviously knew better than to try to keep Hermione away from her books.

But she didn't study. She went up to the girls dormitory, pulled the curtains around her four poster bed so that nobody would bother her, and lost herself in thought.

xxx

The next morning, Hermione woke up in her bed with the curtains still drawn. At first, it felt like just any average Sunday morning - the sun was up, which, in November, meant she had had a decent lie in, and she could hear the light breathing of one or two of her roommates. There was a sharp corner of a book poking her in the spine; she had obviously fallen asleep reading - _again_.

But then, slowly, the events of the previous day started to come back to her. The ridiculous argument over the Felix Felicis. Ron turning on her for doubting him even though he had doubted himself just as much. Her crying and running away before finding him snogging Lavender Brown's face off in front of everyone. Her crying and running away - again. Hiding in a quiet corridor and being found by…

She sat bolt upright. Malfoy! It was a dream, surely it had to have been a dream? Malfoy wouldn't touch her with a ten foot broomstick, nevermind press her against a door and - _oh my_. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she remembered the way he had kissed her gently, groaned into her neck, licked her breasts…

She jumped up, not bothering to make her bed before running into the shared bathroom. She locked the door behind her, before switching on the shower. She pulled off her pyjamas and underwear, noticing the smears of blood on her underwear. _Definitely not a dream._ She climbed into the shower, letting the hot water wash over her as she contemplated her next move. Running away from Hogwarts and never coming back was still pretty high on the list of preferred options. Maybe she could ask McGonagall if she could switch potions classes and learn with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw instead. Also she could ask to have her breakfast, lunch and dinner brought up to her room so that she didn't have to see Malfoy in the great hall. And she could borrow Harry's invisibility cloak whenever she had to wander the corridors or go to the library so that Draco wouldn't see her if he walked past.

She laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of her thoughts, and wondered how much he would sneer when he realised she was going to such lengths to avoid him. The one thing she did know for sure is that what happened last night could never _ever_ happen again. Malfoy was probably regretting it already. In fact, she'd have bet any amount of galleons that, as soon as she had left and he'd realised the gravity of what he'd done, he'd ran straight back to the Slytherin common room and into the shower to scrub her 'muddy' blood off his dick. Possibly casting a scourgify for good measure.

Hermione groaned again. Why why why why why did it have to be _Draco. Bloody. Malfoy._

xxx

By the time Draco had gone to sleep the previous night, he had already come up with a plan. Ignore the mudblood from now on - that was a given. Insult her if the need arose. But he needed to work on his occlumency if he had any desire whatsoever to stay alive - and he knew just the man to ask.

Professor Snape, who also happened to be his Godfather, had been hounding him since the start of term, trying to 'help' him on his assignment to kill Dumbledore. Snape just also happened to be the most accomplished occlumens he'd ever known, so if he was so desperate to help, he could start right now, by helping him to become a master of occlumency.

Draco got up relatively early, before any of his dorm mates. He knew that Severus was an early riser, and if he hoped to catch him at breakfast, he would have to make a move.

He hopped out of bed, wearing only his boxers, and quickly got dressed. He headed out of the common room and up to the great hall, praying to Salazar that Granger wouldn't be there. Perhaps she wouldn't notice him even if she was - she usually had her back to the Slytherin table, her nose buried in what could only be the _world's biggest book_. Stupid mudblood. He supposed you'd have to do a lot of reading to even begin to dream of competing on the same intellectual level as actual witches and wizards.

Fortunately she wasn't there and he breathed a sigh of relief as he entered the great hall. There were very few students present, thankfully, and not very many teachers either. Professor Snape sat at the staff table, an empty plate and a mug of coffee in front of him, reading an article in the Daily Prophet.

He walked up the centre of the great hall, trying to stifle his usual swagger as to not draw attention to himself.

"Severus," he said as he approached his Godfather.

"Mister Malfoy, I believe we have had this discussion before. Whilst we are within this castle, you are to refer to me as 'Professor' or 'Professor Snape' at all times," Snape drawled with disinterest, not even looking up at him, "What has brought you out of your common room at such an unsociable hour? Please do not tell me that Mr. Goyle has managed to set fire to his bedsheets again, I would very much like to avoid starting off my Sunday with that level of stupidity."

Draco smirked in spite of himself.

"No it's nothing like that - Professor. I, erm. Well, I need your help." He swallowed with difficulty as Snape's eyes finally left the newspaper to survey him. To Draco, asking for help was a big deal, and he usually avoided it at all costs. But he knew that he was in over his head this time. He _needed_ help.

"Is this about what I think it is?" Snape asked ambiguously, being careful now not to be overheard.

"Erm, sort of," he said, cringing. Was it technically a lie?

"Leave here now and meet me in my office in ten minutes. I will try my very best to assist you."

xxx

Draco headed straight to Snape's office, his brain whirring with thoughts of how he was going to explain his situation to his head of house. He wondered whether he could get away with not telling him the reason he suddenly desperately wanted help to improve his occlumency skills, but Snape wasn't stupid, nor was he easily fooled. He would want the whole story, and if he felt like Draco was lying to him, he would simply invade his mind and see it all for himself. His Godfather actually _seeing_ Draco's memory of his run-in with the Mudblood last night was the last thing he wanted, so he decided it was better to just be honest from the start, and hope that Snape didn't crucio him for his damn stupidity. Draco knew that he would have deserved it.

He was sat on the floor by Snape's office door when the professor swept down the corridor. He didn't look at Draco, he simply held his wand to the door, unlocking it, before opening it and disappearing inside. Draco jumped up from the floor, and silently followed him in, closing the door behind him.

He wondered whether he had ever been so scared in his entire life. Sure, facing the Dark Lord and taking the Dark Mark over the summer had been… Mind numbingly terrifying. But confessing to a fellow Death Eater that he had slept with a mudblood was in a whole league it's own.

Severus swept behind his desk and sat down, gesturing for Draco to do the same. He shook his head, opting to stand - he was far too nervous to sit.

"Well?" Snape enquired, surveying him with narrowed eyes. Draco knew that he was suspicious - the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher had been trying to help him for the past two months, and Draco had done nothing but avoid him and push him away. He knew something drastic must have happened to incite such a sudden change in Draco's attitude. He held his wand in his hand, fiddling with it as he often did when he was nervous.

"I need you to help me improve my occlumency skills," he said, and then he added as an afterthought; "Please."

"I thought you said your occlumency skills were proficient?" Snape wasn't going to make this easy for him, it seemed. For all he appeared to want to help Draco, he knew he was planning to drag this out.

"Not against… Him." He almost whispered the last word, shivering slightly. He tried to avoid thinking about the Dark Lord as much as possible. The pale skin, the snake-like eyes, the fact that Draco had personally seen him revel in torturing unarmed victims - mudbloods and Death Eaters alike.

"Draco… What have you done?" Severus asked simply. He didn't say any more, but he didn't need to. His tone said everything Draco knew he was thinking: _You're a fool if you think you can hide anything from the Dark Lord. A dead fool._

Draco was staring at the floor. He could feel his pulse pounding in his head. What was the best way to say this? He didn't think anything would lessen the blow of what he was about to say. Perhaps it would be less painful if he just came out with it - like ripping off a plaster. Draco squeezed his eyes shut.

"I slept with a mudblood."

Silence. In his peripheral vision, he saw Snape lower his face into his hands, making no sound whatsoever. Snape said nothing for a good minute.

"Who?" he demanded eventually.

"Granger," Draco replied instantly. There was no point in lying. Not if he wanted Snape's help. There was another long silence before Snape replied.

"Draco, if you were suicidal, you might have just asked me to brew you a draught of living death, simply to save yourself the trouble," he stated, "It would have been a lot less painful."

"Will you help me or not?" Draco demanded. He'd came to ask for occlumency lessons, not to have jokes made at his expense! "Look, I know I fucked up, alright? I don't even know how it happened! But it did, and now no one can find out. Especially not him."

"Draco, you are a fool if you think you can hide this from the Dark Lord!" Snape sneered, "Yes, I am an incredibly accomplished occlumens, but that took decades of training, practice and discipline. What, did you think you could just walk in here and become a master of occlumency within a week? It doesn't work like that!'

"WELL I HAVE TO TRY!" Draco screamed, finally snapping, "I have to try! Or he is going to kill me! Do you even understand that?"

Severed glowered at him darkly.

"I understand that better than anyone, Draco. I have served the Dark Lord for longer than you've been alive," he paused for a few seconds. "You have to understand what you're asking of me, Draco. If I attempt to teach you occlumency and you fail, and the Dark Lord invades your mind, he will see that I have been helping you keep this little secret, and then he will kill us both."

Draco's heart felt like it had stopped. He hadn't thought of it that way. But what would Snape do now? He already knew Draco's secret. Would be risk his life to help him, or turn him over to the Dark Lord? It had to be one or the other.

"However…" he continued, "I have recently made something of a vow to protect you and keep you safe at all costs. I'd say that includes helping you to cover up your little… secret." Draco swallowed, not daring to breathe. "So yes, Draco, I will help you." He let out a sigh of relief. "But failure is not an option. If you fail, we both die."


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: I can't quite figure out how to reply to reviews… but a big thank you to everyone who has left one, followed or favourited! Also thank you to Jessica for the new story art.**

xxx

After a long conversation with Professor Snape, Draco wandered the corridors with mixed emotions. Snape had agreed to help him, that was a good thing. He had insisted on private occlumency lessons every single weekday evening. Draco had no idea how he was going to fit it in alongside trying to fix the vanishing cabinet, homework and studying for his N.E.W.T. exams. Not that he really cared about his grades anymore - there were much more important things at stake.

There was also the fact that Snape seemed to think there was no way that he would be able to learn to keep the Dark Lord out of his mind. That was… Concerning. But Draco fully intended to throw himself into these occlumency lessons one hundred percent. If anyone was desperate enough to master occlumency in a short period of time, it was him. Besides, if Snape was willing to sacrifice every evening teaching him, then surely he must have thought there was even a small chance of him succeeding. _Probably just trying to save his own neck…_

Not quite knowing why, Draco's aimless wandering ended with him up on the astronomy tower, looking out over the Hogwarts grounds and the surrounding mountains. The sun was just rising, and he saw the odd owl flying past occasionally.

He lay back on the floor, closing his eyes and thinking again about the previous night, cursing Granger to himself. Did she know how much trouble she had caused, losing control of herself like that? Not that he could blame her. But what was his excuse? He had just as equally lost himself in her. The smell of her hair, the taste of her lips, the sound of her voice as she _begged_ for him…

 _Stop_ , he commanded himself. _Why am I even thinking about her? She was the biggest mistake of my life. With her dirty blood and her inferior magic and her soft, pink lips… And her tight, warm pussy..._

He hadn't had much sleep the previous night, what with obsessing over why it had happened, planning how he was going to improve his occlumency, being nervous about how he was going to explain how much he had fucked up to Professor Snape. He was truthfully exhausted - not that he hadn't been since the start of the summer holidays - and it didn't take long before he drifted off into sleep, regretfully pleasant thoughts of Hermione invading his mind.

 _Draco was lying on the bed in his common room, Hermione was on top of him, sweaty, curvy, and completely naked, save for his Slytherin tie. She rode him passionately, thrusting her hips onto him like a pro._

 _She leaned forward, kissing and biting his lips, neck, ears, anywhere she could reach. Her breathing was erratic and those delicious moans were escaping her lips. Draco held her hips, using them as leverage to thrust himself into her at her rhythm, savouring the magnificent noises she made every time they came together._

" _Draco," she sighed in her ear, "Oh gods, Draco."_

 _He could think of nothing but this very second. Her soft voice in his ear, her breath and lips on his neck, her smooth, tight body moving with his. All he knew was that she made him feel amazing, and that he never wanted to stop touching her, kissing her, fucking her._

 _Her lips came down on his and he squeezed her hips tighter, thrusting harder, her cries escaping her lips and into his mouth as she squirmed and groaned in ecstasy. She was so close…_

" _Come for me," he begged her._

" _Yes," she gasped, going higher and higher. Then he felt her muscles stiffen, her pussy tightening around him as she cried out, not holding back._

" _Fuck! Draco!" she screamed, her nails digging tight in his shoulders. Seeing and feeling her come drove him over the edge, and he grabbed her even tighter, thrusting deeper, harder, until he emptied himself inside her, losing himself completely._

"Hermione…" he moaned.

Slowly he noticed that the soft bed was no longer soft, and the girl on top of him was no longer there. He was lying on the astronomy tower, fully dressed, sweating and with wet pants.

Draco groaned. _Fuck_.

xxx

Hermione had potions first thing on Monday morning, and she was totally and utterly dreading it. So much so that she actually felt sick, and considered going to the hospital wing to get out of going at all. But there was no use delaying the inevitable - sooner or later, she was going to have to face Draco Malfoy.

She tried to remember the Draco that she hated, the bullying, cruel, spoiled brat that had insulted her for five years straight. But all she could think about was the last time she'd seen him, how he had kissed her, held her, taken her tears away and replaced them with… Well… Pure unadulterated ecstasy. She felt herself squirm in her uniform as she involuntarily re-lived the experience… Again.

Somehow it would have been much easier to walk into potions if she still thought of him as that insufferable brat with the empathy of a goldfish. Or if she knew that she regretted the incident and that she totally didn't shiver every time her thoughts wandered to him - _but she did_. How could she go back to being insulted by him on a daily basis now, pretending like he hadn't given her the most sensual, mind-blowing experience of her life?

xxx

Draco stood in front of a full-length mirror in his dormitory, straightening his tie. It felt almost soiled after he'd dreamed about the mudblood wearing it. He pushed the image of her naked body out of his mind.

He hated her, just like he hated all mudbloods. No, he hated her _more_. She had ruined his life. He wanted to curse her into oblivion. How dare she touch him? Kiss him? She was not worthy. If one thing was for sure, he would not be making the same mistake again.

He turned on the spot, and then stormed out of the dormitory, heading to potions class.

xxx

Hermione arrived at Professor Slughorn's classroom alone. Harry and Ron hadn't waited for her, which was unusual - usually they all met in the common room and walked to classes together. Perhaps Harry had wanted to ask the teacher something before the lesson started? That must have been it.

But she pushed the door open, intending to head straight to her usual seat next to Harry and Ron, when she saw her seat was already taken - by Lavender Brown. She felt her heart sink. Ron and Lavender didn't even look up when she arrived, they were too busy giggling together and holding hands. Harry did look up, but he just grimaced at her apologetically.

She glanced around the classroom, hoping to find another spare seat next to one of the Gryffindors. Her heart thudded in her chest as she realised that the only spare seat was next to - _of course_ \- Draco Malfoy.

Trying not to make eye contact with him, she walked over, grabbing the seat and, instead of sitting down, she carried it over and put it down next to Harry, perching on the edge of his desk instead. _Ha,_ she thought. Ron and Lavender didn't acknowledge her presence - they probably had forgotten they were even in a potions class, the way they looked lost in each other like lovesick puppies. It made her want to vomit.

She thought she had won until Professor Slughorn arrived. He took one look at her and smiled.

"I'm afraid you can't sit there Miss Granger. We're going to be brewing today and there won't be enough space for you," her heart dropped. "There's a space over here next to Mr. Malfoy, I'm sure he will be very welcoming."

"Of course. Sorry, Professor," she stammered, getting up. Another apologetic glance from Harry. She tried to keep her emotions off her face as she picked up her chair, carrying it back and putting it as far away from Draco as possible whilst trying not to make it obvious that she was doing so. He met her eyes and heat creeped into her face as the memory of Saturday night crept into her head. She sat down and fixed her eyes firmly on Professor Slughorn, who had waited until she was settled before starting to teach.

Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, Hermione could not concentrate on a word Slughorn was saying. She was hyper-aware of Draco's burning presence next to her. She could see his hands on the table in her peripheral vision. The same hands that had grabbed her hair, traced her bare skin and squeezed her hips. Why could she not stop thinking about it? It was the stupidest, most reckless thing she had ever done. So why did she just want to drag him back to her dormitory and do it all over again? She shivered. She was mortified to think about what he would say or do if he knew what she was thinking right now. She prayed he wasn't secretly talented at legilimency.

Professor Slughorn had instructed them to start a potion. Luckily he had written the potion name (Volubilis potion) and page number on the board as Hermione hadn't taken in anything that he had said. She opened her book to the relevant page and went to get the required ingredients.

The class started to work, chopping ingredients and stirring potions. Despite herself, Hermione couldn't help but notice Draco's diligent care and attention when preparing ingredients, adding them to the cauldron, and stirring the potion. The step he was up to involved stirring the mixture constantly, four times clockwise and then one time anti-clockwise, adding a drop of honeywater on every fifth stroke until the potion turned bright pink. Hermione was mesmerised by the look of sheer concentration on Draco's face - his eyes narrowed as he bit the tip of his tongue a little. She couldn't help but think that he seemed a natural at potions making, his focus and talent reminded her of Professor Snape. She wondered whether Draco had grown up playing with a children's potions set, much like muggle children often played with chemistry sets.

"Do you plan on actually brewing your own potion Granger, or were you just going to stare at me for the rest of the lesson?" he said coldly, his eyes not leaving his potion, his hands not faltering from their work.

Hermione averted her eyes immediately, heat flooding her face. _What an idiot_. She instantly resumed chopping her ingredients, whilst wishing the ground would swallow her up and regretting not following through on her thoughts of feigning illness to skip the class. Very uncharacteristic for her, but apparently she was in quite the habit of behaving uncharacteristically recently.

She started the honeywater stage, trying her hardest to focus her full attention on her own potion and not Draco's. It was difficult because she was so used to the habit of brewing her own potions whilst simultaneously keeping one eye on Harry and Ron in case they started to make a catastrophic error. _I wonder if precious Lavender will stop Ron from messing his potions up?_ she wondered bitterly, her eyes wandering towards them. They were both concentrating on their own potions, all seemed well - for now, anyway.

Thanks to being distracted by Ron and Lavender, she accidentally elbowed Malfoy whilst stirring, causing him to drop his stirring rod into his cauldron.

"Argh!" he snapped. He panicked, fishing it out and quickly resuming stirring. Then he muttered so that Slughorn wouldn't hear; "Stupid mudblood!"

"I'm so sorry," she said quietly, her heart sinking at his insult. She watched as he desperately tried to save his potion. It looked like he had managed to. Draco huffed and said nothing else.

Hermione spent the rest of the lesson feeling like she had been punched in the stomach. He had confirmed what she had already known to be true - Draco Malfoy hated her guts, he had just been caught unawares when she had jumped on him, and he completely regretted the whole thing. He was probably trying his best to forget it ever happened. She tried her hardest not to be disappointed, her eyes stinging with tears as she swallowed, trying to keep them at bay. _What was going on with her? Was she really upset that Draco Malfoy didn't like her?_

At the end of the lesson, Professor Slughorn came around the classroom, inspecting everyone's potions and giving them a grade. Hermione, astonishingly and despite all of her distractions, received an 'Outstanding', whereas Draco merely received an 'Exceeds Expectations'. She dared to risk a sideways glance at him, and was not shocked to find him glaring at her - obviously he blamed her for him not getting the highest grade. He instantly started packing away his equipment, and, as soon as the class was dismissed, he was first out of the door, not speaking to or waiting for anyone.

xxx

Draco left the potions classroom at the earliest possible opportunity. Granger was a bloody idiot, what was wrong with her, staring at him like that? So much for keeping Saturday's events a secret. She couldn't have made it clearer that something had happened if she had jumped up and down on the table shouting 'I had sex with Draco Malfoy'. And the fact she'd messed up his potion, too. He needed to get away from her before he cursed her for being so intellectually inferior.

He had a free period now, so he headed straight back to his dormitory, dumping his school bag and robe on the floor. He climbed onto his four-poster bed, pulling the green and silver curtains around himself before lying back onto his pillow. He closed his eyes, focusing all of his attention on visualising a thick wall of fog - his occlumency shield. His Aunt Bellatrix, despite being absolutely clinically insane, was quite adept at occlumency, and had spent the summer teaching him it so that he could hide his plans to kill Dumbledore. Obviously his skills were nowhere near good enough to keep secrets from the Dark Lord, but he could keep the average legilimens from infiltrating his thoughts.

Simple occlumency, which he was well practised in, involved pushing down all emotions and completely clearing your mind. But doing it that way would allow the Dark Lord to know that he was hiding something, which would no doubt lead to torture anyway - or worse. He needed to master more complex occlumency; leaving most of his thoughts and memories visible, but locking away just the ones that he needed to hide. That was the aspect he struggled with. As a result, his Aunt Bellatrix now knew all the sordid details of the Slytherin girls he had slept with, including his on-off physical relationship with Pansy Parkinson. She knew about how he was scared of his own father. She knew how he had cried himself to sleep every night ever since he had been given the unspoken ultimatum by the Dark Lord - kill Albus Dumbledore or you and your family will die.

Despite all she had seen, he couldn't allow Bellatrix to see the memory of Hermione. Snape was forgiving, he still had his mind intact. But Bellatrix … She would definitely crucio him. And then she would hunt down Hermione and torture her like it was some kind of spectator sport, before killing her on the spot. _Not that I care what happens to the mudblood,_ he thought spitefully.

He mentally scolded himself for getting distracted, and threw his occlumency shields back up. He allowed some of his more mundane memories to come to the forefront of his mind, before trying to lock away the one he wanted to hide.

The memory flashed through his mind. Leaving the room of requirement. Hearing someone crying and following the sound of Granger's sobs until he found her on the floor. Mocking her until she cursed him. Duelling with her, holding back because he didn't need any more attention drawn to himself right now. Disarming her. Being tackled to the ground.

 _Lock it up_ , he commanded himself, angry that the memory was at the forefront of his mind when it should have been at the back. _Conceal it. Don't think about it. Get it behind the wall._

The way his heart had fluttered when her lips came crashing down on his. Adrenaline was already pumping thanks to the duel, and the kiss just magnified it by a thousand percent. He had spent the last six months feeling depressed, shutting the world out, trying not to feel anything. But the the way she kissed him, the rush of danger from the fact that it was _her_ , he hadn't felt so _alive_ in a long time. He'd lost control. He'd kissed her back. She was like electricity in his veins, like heroin, and he just couldn't - wouldn't - stop himself. For a moment, just for a very short moment, he got to feel normal. No wizarding war. No purebloods, no mudbloods. No family or dark wizards controlling every aspect of his life. Just a boy and a girl, lost in passion, lost in each other, not a care in the world.

Draco felt his pulse quicken as he remembered the way she had dragged him into the classroom, and how he had thrusted her up against the locked door, kissing and licking everywhere that he could reach.

He groaned, giving in to himself. He slipped his hand down into his trousers, stroking himself as he recalled the moment he realised that he had taken her virginity. He groaned aloud as he heard her voice in his head, begging him not to stop, begging him for more, until he pushed both of them over the edge.

He cried out loudly as he came, shuddering and gasping with ecstasy, with thoughts of nothing except fucking Hermione Granger.


End file.
